The Kansas City Community Kitchen has been serving the community for 30 years (according to its website) but on Feb. 5, it re-opened with its new restaurant-style initiative that allows the homeless to “dine with dignity.”
Each weekday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., volunteer staff serve high-quality lunches to the homeless. Individuals are greeted at the door by a host who seats them at a table with a menu. A waiter then asks them what they’d like to eat and a freshly made meal is delivered to them. There aren't any trays, buffets, or lines.
“It’s different,” Brian Oglesby, a homeless man who dined at Kansas City Community Kitchen told The Kansas City Star. “They’re treating me good, like they don’t know I’m homeless.”
The kitchen can make changes to meet health, dietary, or religious requirements. The selections are low in sodium and high in nutrients — an effort to reduce the cases of hypertension, diabetes, and expensive hospital visits for the homeless.
The CEO, Beau Heyen, says that they hope to expand to five more locations by 2018. The center has also launched a 6-month vocational training program with class comprised of unemployed, homeless and veterans. They teach kitchen skills, and with months of experience they hope it will help people get full-time jobs in the food industry.
